


and our sons and daughters pay

by Rachaelizame



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Background Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze - Freeform, Family Drama, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Korkie is a Kenobi, Secret Children, what if Darth Vader /hurt/ Korkie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-29 00:30:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15718221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachaelizame/pseuds/Rachaelizame
Summary: Obi-Wan watched over Anakin’s son from afar, because, of course he did. Luke is family.But Anakin upon discovering Obi-Wan’s son, in rage and grief did something different.





	and our sons and daughters pay

Obi-Wan walked forward and stopped suddenly. Someone was here. He could feel the darkness coming from this room, but the person inside it wasn’t the cause. That likely meant bad things for whoever this person was. He debated continuing on, and finding Luke and Han, but he didn’t for two reasons. The first, he would rather face down Vader here than allow Vader a chance to sight Luke. And the second, was the increasingly bad feeling he was getting from this room- a kind of feeling he hadn’t experienced in years. There was, after all, little point in such a warning when galaxy had collapsed. He worried what this new resurgence of the emotion could mean

Before he had time to overthink, he decided to listen to the Force. He slipped inside the room.

Inside was a young man, one who looked vaguely familiar. He was strapped down on a hard bench and unconscious and clearly recently beaten. Obi-Wan went to the side of the bench, where a small datapad was embedded in the wall, looking for more information. Why wasn’t this man in the detention cells? The only reason he could think of was that someone wanted easy access to this man- a fact which couldn’t be good for him.

He activated the datapad, hoping it would be what he suspected it to be. He thought it might be data on who exactly this prisoner was, as every cell would contain that information for easy access for the stormtroopers. And though this may not be a cell in the detention block, it was clearly a cell all the same.

Fortunately, the datapad did not require a passcode and lit up immediately upon his touch.

“Korkie Kryze” was the first thing Obi-Wan’s eyes fell on, and his breath stuttered in his chest at the reminder. This was Satine’s nephew. He’d never given much thought to him, or the rest of Satine’s family after her death- too worried it would dredge up everything he’d felt when he lost her.

His eyes kept scanning for more information. What had Korkie done to attract the attention of someone of high rank in the Empire? Obi-Wan wasn’t surprised the man had done something against the Empire, as he thought back to Ahsoka’s story of her brief time at the Royal Academy, but most rebels didn’t draw such personal attention.

He grew more confused as he could find nothing to warrant this. Korkie had rebelled, yes, but not in such a way that deserved any more attention than any other Rebel.

Finally, Obi-Wan reached the last page, which appeared to be some form of genetic testing. He wondered for what purpose the Empire would test his genetics, but before the thought had even finished his eyes caught on a few words.

“Mother: Satine Kryze.” No, Satine was his aunt. She- she couldn’t- he kept reading.

“Father: Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The damning words shot into his brain and his entire body went cold. No. No this couldn’t be.

But he knew. Somehow, he knew. And as that fact registered, the temper he had thought well controlled flared to life.

How could he? Vader had done many terrible things, he knew this. But this thought remained- how could he do this? Korkie wasn’t here because he was a Rebel, or because of any of his own actions. No, Korkie was here because of Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan knew there wasn’t really any actions he could have taken much differently. Certainly, he could have done things slightly different, or paid more attention to some things. But in the end, Anakin’s fall was Anakin’s fault. He wasn’t recriminating himself for that- he’d already done that enough.

But if he’d only known- he would have warned Korkie if he’d known. Warned him that Darth Vader held a personal grudge against Obi-Wan. Warned him that it was very possible that Vader would take out his anger on the closest thing he could get to Obi-Wan, if he was unable to reach the man himself.

Anger coursed through him, in a way it hadn’t in quite a long time. He had a temper, he knew this, but he’d largely learned to control it over his lifetime. But here and now, in this moment of discovery, it took much more than he was used to to leash it.

As soon as he could breathe again, he went for the nearest console in the room and released the bonds tying Korkie down. He gently lifted and shook him, hoping he could wake him. He could likely use the Force to aid him in carrying Korkie if he could not rouse him, but an old man carrying around an unconscious prisoner would be much more conspicuous than they could be otherwise.

Korkie’s eyes opened briefly and closed again. After a long moment, Obi-Wan realized he wasn’t going to wake him anytime soon, so he used the Force to aid him and lifted the man.

As anticipated, it was harder to sneak around the Death Star and to convince the weak-minded to look the other way with the boy there, but he managed, making it nearly back to Captain Solo’s ship before Anakin found him.

“So. You’ve found the boy. I won’t have need of him any longer. I have you now.”

Obi-Wan turned his back on Vader, a move made partially of necessity, and partially because he knew it would infuriate him. He laid Korkie gently on the ground, and his saber was already up and ignited to meet Vader’s as the Sith lunged toward him, hoping to take advantage of the moment of distraction.

“Well, Darth, I would certainly be willing to take him off your hands, in that case.” He spoke lightly, willing the anger to not reveal itself. Vader spoke again, but it was at that moment that Obi-Wan caught sight of Luke, and, to be honest, he didn’t pay any attention to anything else Vader had to say.

Luke was standing in the hangar, and Obi-Wan knew the best thing to do to keep Luke from Vader’s attention would be to so anger Vader that he would not be focused on anything else. The first thought that came to mind was to sacrifice himself, but no, that would damn Korkie to death and he couldn’t do that. But simply fleeing now would risk Vader following, or else, at least noticing young Luke, and both options would put Luke and Leia in danger. So he made a slight change in plan.

He let a bit of the anger and grief he was feeling loose, and saw Vader’s surprise.

“You were my brother. This man should have been family to you. But you do this. I would never have thought such a thing from my student. But then, my student is dead. The death of Padme Amidala proved that well enough.” This was incredibly risky. He knew well how easily so many of those statements could provoke Vader, but there was no other, better choice.

Sure enough, Vader screamed, raging at him and trying harder to beat him down, but Obi-Wan had long known how to defend against larger, angrier opponents, and he held his own.

“Oh, like you protected my child?” Vader finally spoke, and Obi-Wan’s heart nearly stopped. How could he know? “You allowed Amidala to die. It is your fault as well that the child did not make it.”

“You are the one who strangled her. You are the one who destroyed her strength. You have only yourself to blame for what you have lost.” And with that statement, Obi-Wan saw a hesitation, a moment of opportunity. He grabbed Korkie and rushed past Vader.

When Luke saw him coming towards him, he turned and headed for the ship, finally. Obi-Wan boarded as well, and within moments they were gone.

-

Obi-Wan placed Korkie in the tiny medical bay Captain Solo directed him to. He sat beside him for long moments, just watching him. He reached a hand up slowly and brushed it gently over Korkie’s hair.

Losing himself in the moment, he almost didn’t notice Luke enter the room. Almost. He lifted his head up and turned to face him.

“Who is he?” Luke asked kindly.

“My son. Evidently.”

“Evidently?”

“I suppose now is as good a time as any other. Jedi were not supposed to have children, usually. Certainly it happened regardless, as shown by both you and Korkie, but it was very frowned upon at the least. I- don’t know the exact circumstances of Korkie’s birth, but I know enough to guess that they weren’t good. I suspect his mother hid the truth of his heritage for both his safety, and because his birth would reflect poorly on both her and I. In fact, she hid the truth so thoroughly that even I did not know that he was mine until I saw his records today.”

Luke frowned deeply at that.

“So you never knew? She never told you?”

“No. And, while some part of me would like to, I cannot be too upset with her for it. I can see the reasons she would have done this, and I know she did it for the good. It was not like her to be cruel.”

“But- if Jedi weren’t supposed to have kids- then how- my dad?”

“Your father was in love with your mother. I suspected for a long time but said nothing. I didn’t want to scare him away should I have guessed incorrectly, and I- I would not have admitted it at the time, but I had known love myself and saw no reason to tear it from him as it had been taken from me. I thought it would pass, or that he would choose to leave and be with her. I would never have thought…”

“What? What happened to them?” Luke saw with surprise that Obi-Wan appeared to be close to tears as he spoke his next words.

“I had hoped to ease you into this knowledge, Luke. And, I admit, I did not want to speak it aloud. But Vader has seen you, and though I did my best to ensure he paid you no mind, he will be curious. He will also be enraged that you are associated with me. You can see for yourself what he has done to Korkie, and for no fault of his, simply because he is mine. I fear what he will do to someone he sees as making the choice to work with me. The only way I can protect you is to tell you everything I know of Vader.”

“Okay, Ben. Tell me everything.”

“Alright, Luke. But I would like to preface this by saying, I am so very sorry for what I am about to say.”


End file.
